


Delirium

by Sohotthateveryonedied



Series: Whumptober 2019 [3]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Delirium, Episode: s01e16 Failsafe, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, Injury, Prompt: Delirium, Scarecrow's Fear Toxin (DCU), Sort Of, Spitfire - Freeform, Whumptober 2019, it's referenced at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-23 02:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,315
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20884739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sohotthateveryonedied/pseuds/Sohotthateveryonedied
Summary: Last night filters through in fits and starts, but Wally can’t make sense of anything concrete other thanArtemis, Artemis, she’s gone she’s gone she’s gone.Everything else is white noise in comparison. Was he drugged? Does he have a concussion?





	Delirium

**Author's Note:**

> Day 3: Delirium

Wally wakes up in the med bay, a cry dying on his lips. Artemis’ figure evaporates before his eyes, and M’gann’s scream rings in his ears, again and again. He shoots upright, breathless and panting as shivers wrack his body. Sweat beads on his brow, and every limb trembles as the remnants of memory stab at every thought. 

_ “Artemis, behind you!” _  
  
_ No. _  
  
_ “Artemis!” _  
  
_ No, no, no. _  
  
Wally remembers sinking to his knees, snow and slush soaking into his uniform as he stared at the spot where Artemis had been just _ two seconds ago. _ In those two seconds, Wally felt something fragile inside of him crack right down the middle.  
  
Was it a dream? But it felt so real. Wally’s head pounds like a bass drum, and grasping at any solid thought is near impossible. And he’s woozy. Should he feel woozy?  
  
Last night filters through in fits and starts, but he can’t make sense of anything concrete other than _ Artemis, Artemis, she’s gone she’s gone she’s gone _ . Everything else is white noise in comparison. Was he drugged? Does he have a concussion?  
  
Wally lifts a hand to his head, squinting against the bright lights of Mount Justice’s med bay. Something tugs at his arm when it moves, and he looks down to see an IV stuck in the crook of his elbow. He yanks the needle out with shaking fingers, the sting irrelevant as he gets to his wobbly feet and stands up.  
  
_ “Artemis, behind you!” _  
  
Wally sways the instant his heels touch the floor, and his vision swims so violently he nearly collapses. He belatedly realizes that his Kid Flash uniform—where did that come from?—is torn and bloodied in places, and he feels the pull of stitches when he moves. The team...was on a mission, right?  
  
_ “We are Earth’s heroes now.” _  
  
No. That wasn’t… Was it?  
  
_ “Stop it, KF!” _  
  
Artemis.  
  
_ “I’ve been scanning for League and team signals since we got inside. They're not here.” _  
  
He watched her die. She’s—  
  
_ “Artemis is gone.” _  
  
“No,” Wally says aloud, shaking his head. “No.” She can’t be gone. She needs to be okay. He doesn’t know what he’ll do if she’s not.  
  
Without thinking, Wally runs straight out of the medical bay, through the cave, all the way to the zeta tubes. He passes M’gann in the kitchen on the way there, and she perks up with a grin. “Wally! How are you—”  
  
He ignores her, brain filled to bursting with adrenaline and anxiety and the horrific image melded behind his eyelids of Artemis being disintegrated, taken apart atom by atom until nothing remains but air. Wally just barely catches himself before he skids right into the wall beside the tubes.  
  
He sets the coordinates to Gotham City without giving himself time to consider his actions, and in seconds he’s there.  
  
_ “Got you covered! Get inside, I’m almost there!” _  
  
_ He wasn’t fast enough. He didn’t have time to move his feet, let alone make it to her before the beam hit. It was like he was cemented in place, unable to do anything but watch while she faded away. He wasn’t fast enough. _  
  
_ Why isn’t he fast enough? _  
  
The sky above Gotham is pitch black and murky, and Wally relies on muscle memory alone to locate Artemis’ building, three blocks from the phone booth. He’s shaky and uncoordinated, splashing through puddles and knocking over a garbage can on one particularly sharp turn, which frightens the shit out of a stray cat.  
  
Wally doesn’t stop.  
  
_ Artemis, Artemis, Artemis— _  
  
When he makes it to the building, Wally doesn’t hesitate before racing up the stairs to where he knows Artemis’ place is on the third floor. He finds the right apartment and catches himself on the doorway, the apartment number blurring before his eyes.  
  
_ “Artemis, behind you!” _  
  
_ “Artemis!” _  
  
Wally pounds on the door, fist all but vibrating until nineteen and a half seconds later the door is violently pulled open, which nearly causes Wally to fall over.  
  
When he sees her, sleepy and glaring with the heat of ten thousand suns, Wally sobs with relief. Her hair is a mess and she’s scowling at him like he’s the most disgusting thing on Earth, but she’s _ here. _ She’s _ alive. _ At once all of the anxiety leaves him in a rush that makes him dizzy, and Wally’s grip on the doorway is the only thing keeping him upright at this point.  
  
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Artemis demands in a hiss, all bared teeth and sleep-deprived eyes. “Are you trying to wake up the whole city so they can all come and see Kid-fucking-_Flash _ at my door?”  
  
Wally can’t recall ever having been so happy to see Artemis pissed at him. His vision ducks out and goes blurry again for a moment, and he blinks to correct it. “I—sorry. Sorry, I forgot it’s—it’s the middle of the night, isn’t it?” He puts a hand to his head, wincing, still foggy.  
  
Artemis looks him up and down, finally taking in the torn uniform; the way Wally sags as the adrenaline leaves his body, little by little. Her anger slips. “Are...you okay?” She reaches out and palms back the hair sticking to his sweaty forehead, and Wally leans into the touch. “You look like shit.”  
  
He knows without looking that she’s right. Wally’s all trembling knees and panicked breaths with dried tears still cooling on his cheeks. He must be a sight: showing up on the Crocks’ doorstep in a delirious panic at three in the morning, looking like he saw a ghost.  
  
_ “They’re dead. Every single alien. If it’s the last thing I do.” _  
  
_ “You’re wrong! The zeta radiation proves she’s alive! She’s—” _  
  
_ “Artemis!” _  
  
Artemis’ brow creases, and her expression shifts. “Is...this about the mission?” she asks, something like concern bleeding through her tone. “I heard about Scarecrow. Robin told me you got dosed, are you—”  
  
Before his mind has the time or the capacity to catch up with his actions, Wally is lunging out and pulling Artemis into a hug, gripping her close like he never wants to let her go again. He doesn’t.  
  
Artemis makes a startled noise, stiffening in Wally’s hold. He can feel her pulse stutter where his face is pressed against her neck, and he knows this is probably super weird, that his brain isn’t working correctly from the fear toxin and the sedative, that he should go back home and leave Artemis alone—he _ knows, _ okay?  
  
But he can’t let her go. He can’t.  
  
“Wally,” Artemis manages. “You’re kind of freaking me out here.” Her arms are lifted, like she doesn’t quite know where to put them. “Are you okay, or do I need to call Barry?”  
  
Wally inhales deeply, tightening his arms around Artemis’ back. “‘M okay.”  
  
“Cool. Can you...let go?”  
  
“No.”  
  
A pause. “Um. All right.” And, ever so slowly, Artemis’ arms drop until they drape over Wally’s shoulders. And, just like that, she’s hugging him back. “You know you’re bleeding, right?”  
  
One of her hands dances just off a spot on Wally’s shoulder blade that stings when she touches it. Wally must have torn some stitches on his way here.  
  
Artemis hasn’t stopped talking. “I could stitch that up for you, if you want. Then I can call your uncle and probably the cave and—did you come from the cave? I’m assuming you did. Maybe Dinah too, since something is clearly wrong with you, and—”  
  
“Stop talking,” Wally sighs into the fabric of Artemis’ shirt. She smells so good, like rain and sweat and apple tarts. “I don’t care, just—just don’t leave, okay? Don’t leave me again.”  
  
Artemis swallows hard, and her skin heats up against Wally’s. “Uh. Sure,” she says. Hesitantly and then less so, she holds onto Wally more firmly, and he sighs into it. “I can do that.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Some of the team was on a mission to deal with Scarecrow, and Wally got hit with fear toxin which caused him to relive Artemis' death during Failsafe. Fun, right? 
> 
> [Feel free to mosey on down to my Tumblr!](http://sohotthateveryonedied.tumblr.com/)


End file.
